Man Suffocates after dead palm fronds slide down over him. Cali, 8/03

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I use a big shot to shoot a throw line over the center of the palm, then pull a bull rope over, then attach an omni swivel block to the bull rope, then attach my climbing line through the swivel block, pull the system up to the center of the palm. Secure to the base of the tree or anouther tree. You now have a Ddrt setup on an adjustable false crotch. You can save steps by going Srt.
 
VL07 said:
I use a big shot to shoot a throw line over the center of the palm, then pull a bull rope over, then attach an omni swivel block to the bull rope, then attach my climbing line through the swivel block, pull the system up to the center of the palm. Secure to the base of the tree or anouther tree. You now have a Ddrt setup on an adjustable false crotch. You can save steps by going Srt.
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Yes thats exactly how I do it. Some folks talk about srt and ascenders but I have no experience there. I have recently switched to a VT and with a groundie tending the slack I can run up the beard of a nasty old Washie much faster than on the English prussik I was using.
 
outofmytree said:
I have recently switched to a VT and with a groundie tending the slack I can run up the beard of a nasty old Washie much faster than on the English prussik I was using.
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Ever try the shwabisch? I swear by it. it doesn't bind as much as the vt.
 
Sigh. Yes it sounds like a washie skirt collapsing. It also sounds like he was in under with the usual 1 lanyard and spurs kit. My leading hand did his first solo W.filofera yesterday and was surprised at just how easy the skirt fell apart. Had he been underneath, rather than over the top as I described earlier, it may well have been our first inhouse palm rescue.

If this crew had a second competent climber and full kit maybe this would have been a story about a rescue rather than a body retrieval.
 
Trimming Washingtonia

There are several descriptions further back in this thread. The basic message is to do them from above and not below. The fronds stick at lower levels but get loose above 35' or so. So if you trim from below you can loosen all the underpinnings and then have a mass of loose but interlocked fronds slide down on top of you.
 
ckliff said:
So, is there a reasonably safe method for doing palms? Some time I'd like to visit my family in FL and give them a go for myself.
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Been mega busy so I havent posted for a month or so. This link shows the safest method I know of ascending and cleaning Washingtonia palms. If you want a little detail just drop me PM or email.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tI35IO9gvE
 
outofmytree said:
Been mega busy so I havent posted for a month or so. This link shows the safest method I know of ascending and cleaning Washingtonia palms. If you want a little detail just drop me PM or email.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tI35IO9gvE
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Tried to rep ya on that one. Well done vid. Thanks.

Only criticism I would throw out is the porta-wrap was attached with a carabiner, where I would generally prefer a girth hitch off the anchoring line.
Is that portawrap dedicated for climbing? When I use a pulley for climbing (which I like a lot) I use a rescue 8 for tying down the line.

Those palms must get awfully wobbly & that looked like a breezy day too.

I hope to visit my folks in Florida and if the opportunity comes up I will know to trim palms top to bottom. Thanks again!
 
on call

here is an idea for the fire departments in city's and larger townships. why not have training for aerial rescues in trees. there should be at least 1 member on the fire department trained in climbing. i mean they are normally trained for repelling down buildings and doing window rescues so why not trees also. just a thought.
 

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